2.17.2009

An Eventful Week

We have a new crew member! Amanda Tuzzolino will be the casting associate. She is solely responsible for creatively contacting celebrities and attracting them to the project. She came up with a great idea pertaining to the working title; “Missing Pieces.” She though it would be cool to send each actor a customized jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle will contain a website: i.e. www.workingtitlemissingpieces.com/johnnydepp. Then Johnny Depp (or whichever actor) would visit the site, and it would contain a personalized letter to Mr. Depp (written by Amanda) and other personalized information.

I reached out to many custom puzzle companies to see if we could arrange a deal for free customized puzzles to execute the idea. A few companies have been keen on the idea, and we are working together to arrange something.

We also started a list of potential actors who might be interested in working on the project.

Fenix and I have been working on coming up with auditioning materials. I made a website with extensive information about production and about casting, and he’s working on creating flyers, casting announcements, and getting in touch with schools nationwide.

We have a new sponsor! Kino Flo lights has agreed to help on the production. They won’t be able to know how much they can help until closer to filming, but they have granted free rentals in the past, so keep your fingers crossed!

Several airlines and other companies were contacted this week as well, so we should be hearing back soon.

This week, I met with a professor and have been talking to a good friend about the script. There are many changes to be made, so the re-thinking and script-breakdown processes are both underway.

A few days ago, I spoke on the phone with a notable film lawyer. He’s working on a project and needs help doing research. Hopefully there will be enough time this semester to help him on the research.

DJ has been busy reading books on sound design and trying to get his hands on some local equipment so he can get hands on experience immediately. John and I have been giving notes to one another and continue meeting every Tuesdays to read American Cinematographer in the library.

Last week I reached out to the Alabama film department, and the Birmingham film commissioner called and said he’s happy to help on the project in whatever way he can. We’re going to talk on the phone again this week to discuss the project further.

In class this week, we had to do presentations on a business proposal of our choice. To get practice pitching a project to a studio, I pitched a mock film partnership and included this film as part of the proposal – trying to be as realistic as possible to prepare for such a pitch in the future. It went pretty well.